Svitzer Stanlow photographed hard at work on the River Mersey on 20 March 2014 above and 11 April 2014 below when I photographed her assisting Navion Oceania into Tranmere. She is a common site on the river and I have seen her many times over the years.Built for Svitzer Marine Ltd by the ASL Shipyard in Singapore she joined the existing fleet of tugs working on the River Mersey in 2006. She was christened in Liverpool on 7 September 2006 after arriving from Singapore a few days before. The new vessel was officially named at Ellesmere Port by the wife of the Shell refinery manager. Stanlow was been chosen to because Shell have a local headquarters located in Stanlow.

Svitzer Stanlow is a 'fin-first' Voith tractor built to a Svitzer Wijsmuller 'inhouse' design. She measures 37.60m in length with a 13.50m beam and 6.05m. draught.

The vessel is powered by a pair of MAK 8M25 diesel engines (5280 kW) which power twin Voith Schneider 32 RS/265-2 cycloidal propellers each with a blade orbit of 3.2m. This gives the tug a static bollard pull of 70 tons and free running speed of 15 knots.

Electrical power is supplied by two Volvo Penta TAMD 103A KC/HCM434E generator sets each rated at 225kW.

Air conditioned accommodation is provided on board for a maximum of five persons each in single en-suite cabins. Th vessel also has a mess room and galley as well as on board facilities for laundry and storage.

My lack of activity on the site over the last two weeks or so is because I have been on holiday in Thailand. We stayed in Pattaya which is about a two hour drive South of Bangkok and although I went on quite a number of trips out I did manage to see a great number of ships heading into and out of Laem Chabang, the port was just a few miles North of my hotel and clearly visible from my balcony and other points around the hotel.Unfortunately the ships were too far away to photograph or see their names and I was reliant on the local AIS site to ID them.I did however take plenty of photographs of ships/boats and other things and will be getting them on to my site when I can.

Arklow Shipping's Arklow Rainbow photographed at Trafford Wharf in 2013 before the undergrowth between the footpath and the Manchester Ship Canal made photography impossible.Trafford Wharf continues to be busy and I probably see a ship a month moored here. A few ships a year also visit the scrapyard which is a few hundred yards West on the opposite bank, most of these are also Arklow vessels.Built by Barkmeijer Stroobos B.V. in Stroobos, The Netherlands as Yard Number 308 in 2006 she is 89.99m long with a 14.0m beam and 5.68m draught.GT = 2999, DWT = 4485 and NT 1639.

She can carry 138 20ft containers with 102 in the hold and 36 on deck.

Powered by a MAK 6M25 - 4 stroke 6 cylinder 255 x 400 mm diesel engine - (1499 kW at 750rpm) her service speed is 11.5 knots. She is also equipped with a single 250kW bow thruster.

Her hold has a total capacity of 5873m3 and has two movable bulkheads that can be placed in nine different positions for possible cargo separation She is operated by Arklow Shipping who are based in Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland, the company was formed in 1966 when three captains formed a Company to operate their seven ships. Arklow Shipping now operates a fleet of 45 ships with a combined carrying capacity of some 6 million tonnes annually.

Container ship Cape Moss photographed in Laem Chabang on 13 April 2011.She was built by Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard in China as Yard Number 384 in 2011

Overall she is 21.6m long with a 32.2m beam and 10.5m draught, powered by a 8RT-flex68D (25040kW) diesel engine she has a reported top speed of 22.3 knots.

Maximum TEU capacity is 2758.

GT = 35878 and NT 19672Upon completion she was delivered to Schoeller Holdings as the fifth Wenchong 2800 design reefer orientated vessel. Initially chartered to MCC transport she started her career on the carriers Malaysia and Thailand feeder service (THA1). She is currently operated by Columbia Ship Management which are based in Cyprus. Their fleet contains over 300 vessels of various types including container ships, tankers and multi-purpose vessels.

I took the photograph from the top deck of the Costa Classica during our Far East Cruise which visited Singapore and various ports of call in Malaysia and Thailand.

This vessel was beached for scrapping at Chillagong in Bangladesh on 29 April 2013.

Over the years she had a number of names including Zim Triest, Hyundai Emerald and Pan Crystal, after I saw her she changed her name for the final time to ER Brisbane.She was built by Halla in Inchon, KR as Yard Number S-221 in 1996 and is 201.5m long with a 32.3m beam and 12.20m maximum draught.Maximum TEU = 2825.

Powered by a B&W 8K80MC (22090kW) Diesel Engine she had a top speed of 22 Knots.On 22 May 20111 at 0542 hrs at the Jakarta Anchorage in Indonesia this vessel was attacked by thieves. Whilst the ship was at anchor they boarded from the stern using a knotted rope. The Bosun and a security watchman spotted the intruders and informed the duty officer. The alarm was raised and the thieves jumped into the water and escapedMMSI - 636090403 REG - LR, Monrovia IMO - 9116357 Call Sign - ELYA5Container Ship Built - Halla, Inchon, KR Yard No. - s-221 L 201.5m W 32.3m GT 30280 Year - 1996 Laem Chabang, 13 April 2011

Carisbrooke Shipping's General Cargo Ship Lauren C heading up the River Mersey on 8 February 2013.

She was built in Vigo, Spain by Freire in 2007 as Yard Number 633 and is 89.8m long with a 14m beam and 7.35m draught.

GT =2998 and NT= 1686

She has a single hold measuring 63.7 m x 11.7 m x 8.25 m, although the 15.7m of hold closest to the bow does narrow, this gives a total hold capacity of approximately 6150.9 m3. The hold has 2 movable bulkheads and 10 pontoon type hatches.Powered by a MAK 6M25C (1980 kW) diesel engine she has a service speed of approximately 11 Knots. The vessel is also equppied with SISU Dieles 645 auxillary generators.

Lauren C is part of the 59 strong Carisbrooke Shipping Fleet. Carisbrooke Shipping are based in Cowes on the Isle Of Wight and started operations in the 1960's supplying general cargo from the mainland to the Isle of Wight with trading barges and small coasters.MMSI -235056236 REG - UK, Cowes IMO - 9373527 Call Sign - MTNU5General Cargo Ship Built - Freire, Vigo, ES Yard No - 633 L 90m W 15m GT - 2990 Year - 2007 Liverpool, 8 February 2013

She was built by Ferus Smit, Westerbroek, The Netherlands as Yard Number 376 in 2007 and is 89.78m long with a 14m beam and 5.95m draught

GT = 2999 and NT 1643.

Hold capacity is 6088m3, she can also carry 144 TEU (102 in the hold and 42 on deck).

Powered by a MAK 6M453 2147 kW diesel engine she has a top speed of 13 knots, the vessel also has a 374hp bow thruster.

Until 2010 she was called Flinterfury.

She is operated by Meriaura who are based in Turku, Finland. The company specialises in the transportation of bulk and raw materials. Founded in 1986 its fleet initially consisted of a single tug, since then the business has expanded and now operates approximately 14 vessels.

In the last week I have managed to see four new ships to add to the list, this brings the total number of new vessels for the year to 171 with a total GT of 3,266,699.The weather over the course of the week has also worsened with the temperature dropping from about 25 Deg to 16 Deg today, the blue skies with just a few high level clouds have also gone to be replaced with low cloud and light rain which has swept in from the Atlantic and crossed Ireland before arriving over my house sometime in the night. Last Friday on my way into work in Salford I saw the Maltese registered General Cargo Ship Alsterdiep (IMO 9472000, GT 2984, 2008) berthed at Trafford Wharf on the Manchester Ship Canal. Shortly after I saw her she headed back down the Ship Canal and out into the Mersey before setting course for Stade which is a City in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Tuesday 29 July 2012 found me in Liverpool until early afternoon. Work kept me away from the river but I did manage to see the Bulk Carrier Eleanor D ( IMO 9287974, GT 32474, 2005) in the docks on my way to my next appointment, she has since left port bound for Turkey.

Wednesday I spent the whole day in Liverpool, on my way into work I saw and photographed Grona Marsum (IMO 9552070, GT3500, 2012) and later in the day during my lunch break I walked down to the river and saw the Bulk Carrier Androusa (IMO 9586356, 44615, 2012) manouvering in the river with the help of a couple of local tugs to gain access into the dock system. Grona Marsum left Liverpool 31 July 2014 for Algeciras which is a port on the South coast of Spain. Androusa however at trhe time of writing is still in the Seaforth basin.

Author

My interest in ships and the sea started back in 2006 when I worked for a couple of years on the banks of the River Mersey. I have since been on a couple of cruises around the Med and in the Far East and have started to take more interest in researching and photographing some of the ships and other vessels seen on my travels.